It was sometime back. A sunday. It was great fun. Suddenly in the afternoon I decided to visit the famous Kamat Yatri Nivas Hotel's 4th floor restaurant 'Jowar Bhakri' , GandhiNagar to feast on the famous 'Plaintain Leaf Jowar Roti' or in Kannada 'Bale Ele Jolada Rotti Oota'  meals of North Karnataka and style.  Things are simple here, in the afternoon you get only 'Jowar Roti meals' either 80 Rs or special 100 Rs per meal. Me, my mom and my aunt had to wait for 20mins to get seats. The place just like MTR near lalbaugh is always fast buzzing with activity. As you enter the hotel you are transferred to an entirely new world. North Karnataka style Dhothi and Kurta and topi clad waiters almost running taking orders , serving hungry people is the scene always.



        Coming to the actual meals, here how it is served. Already clean and washed plaintain leafs are laid out. One by one items get served to you at different times by different people. Just when you think that waiters have forgotten your table and you are just about to open your mouth to shout 'Waiter.. next Item', somebody suddenly appears from nowhere and decorates your leaf with next subzi or sweet. Firstly along with two kinds of 'Kosumbaris' and 'subzis' a butter cube and methi leaves are served. Then comes the main course. Hot, very soft and delicious Jowar Rotis served with famous North Karnataka dish 'Badanekaayi Engai'. It is a dilicious spicy curry made with Brinjal or 'egg-palnt, the highlight of the whole meal. Rotis are so yummy and soft it feels like eating with no end. You can have unlimited rotis and there are waiters all around you all the time hoalding a plate full of hot rotis and checking if anyone needs rotis and serving them. There will always be a 'thatha' (old man), hoalding the 'Badanekaayi Engai' bowl carefullly scanning each customer's leafs to voluntrully check himself weather anyone needs the side dish. Once he finds a victim even with still some 'Engai' left on the leaf, he suddenly springs up from nowhere and asks 'Swalpa Badanekaayi Hakla?'.. 'Shall i serve little more Badanekaayi?! Thats too cool!.. I've never seen any waiter in a hotel, who enthusiastically and voluntrilly checks customer's plates and offers to serve more of a side dish! That too he doesnt pour any little amount of Badanekaayi even if u tell only little. He swings the 'sautu' atleast twice/thrice between your leaf and the bowl that has Engai. 



This is the story of the jowar rotis. While burying our stomachs on a downpour of rotis, you will not feel like having rice (the actual main course of any south indian lunch!). So after the highlight of the meal is over, rice is served with Sambar and ghee. I totally had 5 rotis and some rice and even that too was good. So after a warm and hearty meal with out stomach filled to no end we left the place around 3:30. Everytime I come out of YatriNivas I always think they should have had resting area of some sorts to catch up with unbearable sleep one gets after such a wholesome meal:P.

Feast more of Jowar Bhakri here!

Suddenly idea of going to the English play 'Anklet' or 'Shilaapadikaram' splashed in my mind. So i dropped my mom and aunt at a relative's place and went straight to Rangashankara @ JP Nagar. Play was at 7:30 sharp.

Anket or Shilappadikaram is a ancient Tamil story written by a famous writer, poet Ilango Adigal who lived almost 2000 yrs ago.  Its a saga of a brave and strongwilled protagonist woman who fights and avenges for justice. I knew about the legend from the copy of the old Amara Chitra Katha lying at my home which I have read countless times over long time.  'Shilapadikaram' is considered by many as a great Tamil epic, one that gives the strong message of fight for justice, justful revange, faithfulness and strong will.

It is a tragic but inspiring story of the couple Kannagi and Kovalan. Kannagi, a beautiful daughter of a wealthy mearchant is  married to son of another merchant Kovalan in the town of Kavirippattinam. Sometime after marrige Kovalan deserts Kannagi for a charming court dancer Madhavi and throws all his wealth for her. But he returns to the uncomplaining Kannagi devoid of all wealth after learning that Madhavi was faithless to him. Penniless, Kovalan along with Kannagi migarates to the town of Madurai in Pandayn Kingdom in saerch of a better livelyhood. There they stay at a kind Brahmin's house. The only welath they pocess are a pair of anklets given to Kannagi by her parents at the time of her marriage. Kovalan goes to city to sell one of the ankets at Royal Jeweller's place. In the meantime a similar precious anklet belonging to Pandyan queen would have been stolen by the King's Royal Jeweller himself. The cunning jeweller after seeing that Kannagi's anklet exactly matches the stolen one of the queen, hatches a evil plan and reports to King that Kovalan was the thief. Pandyan King beleiving in Jeweller's fraud words without doing much investigation decides the innocent Kovalan as thief and executes him.



Once Kannagi learns of the incident, shes heart broken. But suddenly she makes her mind hard as a rock and with immense  avengeful rage marches towards the King's palace to demand justice. With her eyes buring red with justful anger asks for a hearing with the King calling him a murderer.  King obliges and asks her what proof she has to say her husband is innocent. Then Kannagi gives the proof in style by showing the other anklet that had dimonds inside it where was queen 's anklet would have pearls. King realizes his folly of executing a innocent and commits suicide to honour justice. Queen too follows him. But Kannagi's anger is still not soothened, she curses the city of Madurai to be burnt. The city blazes in flames and only the good, poor, sick and old people survive. Kannagi is reunited with Kovalan at Heaven.
As a symbol of her glory Kannagi statue stands tall even today at St Marina Beach in Chennai.

Coming to the actual play at Rangashankara, it was directed and performed by a theatre troupe named 'Bangalore Little Theatre ' which promotes mainly Enghlish Theatre in Bangalore. It was two hours of gripping journey through a great Tamil epic.  It was very well directed, enacted by a group of young and talented actors and script was the highlight of the play. But some conversations like when Kovalan returns to Kannagi leaving the court dancer and conversation between Kannagi and the King seemed very very strechy. Everytime when the King screams 'Show the Proof Woman!!'  everyone felt the play had reached the climax where Kannagi tears open her another anklet, Kannagi starts off with one more Philosophical dialogue and the saga continues . One more visible shortcoming of the play was that there was no adress of contemporaryness relevence in the play. Kannagi we saw was a woman who lived 2000 years ago. Some of her actions like meekly accepting an unfaithful husband who had caused her so much suffering look rather submissive and outdated. Instead some aspects in her principles and behaviour should have had the qualities  of a  brave, confident woman of 21st century. But anyway the play is considered as an epic and continues to be adressed with honour.



 Though the role of the Protagonist Kannagi was very well done by the actor, to corrolate and be consistent with the immense justful anger and hardwill for revange that one expects in Kannagi after reading the story, the signs marking those traits were not there in its entirity. Little more anger filled expression would have been good and just. Other actors did a good job, but not perfect though. Sometimes actions looked a lilttle exaggerative and facial expressions not perfectly relevant to the context. But overall it was good show and perfect way to end a weekend evening.